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City Council members urge Cuomo to veto police discipline bill in wake of Eric Garner's death, report says

Andrew Cuomo

Several City Council members are asking Governor Andrew Cuomo to veto a bill they fear would allow police unions to protect officers facing disciplinary actions. (AP Photo/Mike Groll, File)
(Mike Groll)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Several City Council members have asked Gov. Andrew Cuomo to veto a bill they fear would allow police unions to protect their officers in disciplinary proceedings, according to a report in Capital New York.

City Council members Brad Lander and Jumaane Williams sent a letter, which was signed by 14 other City Council members, to Cuomo asking he reject the bill that would "allow local police unions to bargain with municipalities over their officers' disciplinary proceeding," the article states.

The councilmen, the report said, fear the bill would make it difficult for the city to hold officers accountable for their actions.

The bill was passed in the Assembly with little debate, and if signed, disciplinary sanctions against an officer would be "subject to terms of mandatory collective bargaining," the article states.

Lander and Williams cited the death of Eric Garner in police custody as the reason to veto the bill. Garner, a 43-year-old father of six from Port Richmond, died when an officer put him in an apparent chokehold while trying to arrest him July 17 in Tompkinsville.

"As we saw just last week in the police union press conference blaming Eric Garner for his own death, the unions' inclination is to protect their members at all costs," Lander and Williams said, according to the report. "We cannot allow investigations and disciplinary proceedings to be subject to approval by those same unions."

A spokesman for Cuomo said the bill was still "under review," the report states.